According to a scheduling technique, application software to be assigned to central processing units (CPUs) is determined. The application software will hereinafter be referred to as an “app”.
According to a related technique, for example, when an app assigned to a CPU is determined by a scheduling technique, the clock frequency is changed according to the process request for the app assigned to the CPU. According to another disclosed technique, when an app with a real-time constraint is executed in a system periodically executing the app with the real-time constraint and an app without a real-time constraint, the clock frequency is changed such that the real-time constraint can be satisfied. According to a further disclosed technique, when the temperature that a CPU will reach with the execution of an app is predicted, if the predicted temperature exceeds a specified temperature, the app is assigned to another CPU (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2002-533801, 2002-99433, and 2006-133995).
Nonetheless, according to the conventional techniques, if an activation request for software is accepted, an activation process of the software may be delayed by a process of other software already assigned. For example, if a process of other software is being executed at the time of acceptance of an activation request for software, a CPU starts the activation process of the software after the process of the other software is completed or after the process of the other software is stopped and consequently, the activation process of the software is delayed. If the activation process of the software and the process of the other software are switched and processed in time division, a CPU must stop the activation process of the software after expiration of an assignment time to execute the process of the other software, whereby the activation process of the software may be delayed.